I quite like Tuesday’s

For some reason, which is not readily apparent, there has been a serious amount of new music in today so rather than let things pile up I thought I would get it all down before the muse left me…..

The Slow Readers Club – Forever In Your Debt – I Tunes- 1st December 2014

Manchester based Indie/electro band The Slow Readers Club follow the huge success of their last single ‘Don’t Mind’ with the re-release of fan favourite, ‘Forever In Your Debt’, a taut, energetic and danceable track with dark, introspective lyrics and rousing chorus.

The band’s following has been building rapidly since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album in May 2012, which received widespread airplay drawing comparisons with Interpol, The Killers and Arcade Fire. Their innovative music videos have received widespread media attention.

Sleaford Mods – Chubbed Up+ – Ipecac Recordings – 27th October 2014

Nottingham’s Sleaford Mods are a duo that need little introduction, having fiercely penetrated people’s consciousness on a large scale with their sixth album Austerity Dogs in 2013. Since then they’ve garnered critical acclaim with their subsequent work and now they’re joining forces with Ipecac Recordings to release a physical version of their previously released digital compilation Chubbed Up +. This version will include three previously unreleased tracks “The Committee”, “Bring Out The Canons,” and “Fear Of Anarchy”.

Obake – Mutations – Rare Noise Records – 27th October 2014

Obake are Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari (vocals, piano, electronics), Eraldo Bernocchi (guitar, electronics), Balazs Pandi (drums) and Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree – bass). This second album arrives at the place where the energies of metal fuse with ambient electronica, jazz, and noise with the precision of math-rock and the groove of blues. Obake’s sound harks back to the dawn of hard-rock, drawing upon a variety of influences from Sunn 0))), Popul Vuh, Ashra Tempel as much as Slayer, Tool, Melvins and Coil. Obake are made all the more distinctive by the fluid lyrical delivery and musings of a commanding operatic voice. Imposing in its darkness, encompassing in its beauty and ever powerful, Obake have lost not of their might since the release of their debut, if anything, they are more captivating now than ever before. Mutations was recorded by Daniel Sandor at Metropol Studio in Budapest, produced and mixed by Eraldo Bernocchi and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari at The Place in Tuscany and mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtletone Studio – NYC.

Dead Sea Apes – High Evolutionary – Cardinal Fuzz – 3rd November 2014

A serious illness to guitarist Brett Savage held up the completion of Dead Sea Apes’ 2nd full length album for a good long while. However that time was not wasted, as the band meticulously worked over the nuances of the mix and adding overdubs. All the key elements of Dead Sea Apes’ sound are in place from the 13th Floor Elevators on Mogadon of album opener Threads, to the dubbed out space drone of Planetarium. Elsewhere, there is the thundering raga inspired Regolith and an overhaul of one of their older tracks, Wolf Of The Bees (named Wolf II here). This is a rich collection that is a summation of Dead Sea Apes so far – heavy hypnotic kraut grooves, unsettling ambience and ghostly dub echoes.

Ligaments – Ligaments EP (Eat Pizza) – Bandcamp – 19th October 2014

A new EP from Shaun “Ali Bongo” Maxwell’s lad Jake’s excellent band. A couple of tracks from the EP are available for download on Bandcamp.

Black Light White Light returns with a new album “Gold Into Dreams,” released today, across the UK and Europe. Produced by Chris “Frenchie” Smith (Jet, The Dandy Warhols) as well as guest performances from Grammy Award-winning string arranger Davide Rossi (Coldplay, Goldfrapp), the band has gone on to supporting the likes of internationally renowned band The Telescopes (UK), Crocodiles (US) and Crystal Antlers (US) whilst gaining heavy support from Artrocker, Big Cheese, BELLA UNION’s label owner Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins and Amazing Radio. Black Light White Light were formed in 2009 by guitarist, singer and composer Martin Ejlertsen. After some overlap and changes in the band’s line-up he is now primarily joined by brothers Adam Winberg (drums) and Tobias Winberg (bass) with a handful of selected musicians joining the band live too now and then. “From the beginning we have liked to evolve and keep taking chances when playing live, taking the songs in new directions,” Ejlersten explains. Bit of heavy Manc influence on this one!

Formed in Moscow in 2003, Canadian Shauna McLarnon and Ukrainian Alexx Kretov have been consistently writing and recording music whilst living between Ukraine and Canada. Shauna’s delicate airy gossamer-like vocals hold glimmers of Cocteau Twins, Stereolab, The Sundays, Curve, Lush, and Slowdive. Alexx’s guitar, vocals, synths, beats and programming create cinematic soundscapes with elements of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Bill Nelson and Brian Eno, enabling the listener soar above the music. Ummagma debuted with 2 simultaneous LPs (‘Antigravity’ and ‘Ummagma’) in 2012. They’ve built on the success of those records by collaborating with Moscow’s Sounds of Sputnik on their ‘New Born’ LP, which will be released by UK label Ear to Ear Records on November 21st 2014.

Despite heavy turmoil in Ukraine, Ummagma are showing a solid footing, looking forward to a brighter future for Eastern Europe. In ‘Kiev’, this Canadian-Ukrainian team celebrates their freedoms, exploring the root of today’s problems to create beauty in the face of hostility. ‘Kiev’ is a essentially a message of hope. This release is an impressive package featuring the original track ‘Kiev’ plus 9 remixes from 9 fantastic artists from nearly as many countries, recreating the original composition in their own unique styles. Auxiliary tha Masterfader transforms the duo’s work into an Italoesque electro-disco-pop gem. A Copycat’s handclap-dream-pop version is tender as a peach skin with a retro summer groove factor. Statickman’s synths shoot like laser guns into the retro-synth future. A Copy For Collapse goes for a more experimental, industrial approach, while David Garcet’s trippy chillwave edit brings downtempo bliss. Mikael Fas dishes up a beautiful trance-imbued deep house version. Celebrated Japanese chillwave artist Haioka takes everything to the next level with sounds reminiscent of an angelic playground. Sounds of Sputnik presents a stripped-down 90s indie version laced with synth-guitar harmony. Brazilian electro-child Mind Movies delivers a fragmented, dubby and loud breakbeat adaptation that probably comes closest to the actual state of mankind if we could listen to its rhythm.